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THE SEQUESTER: LAWMAKERS PAY POLITICAL PRICE -- POLITICO’s Darren Samuelsohn reports from Belleville, Ill.: “Rep. Bill Enyart might be a Democrat and Rep. Rodney Davis a Republican, but the two rookie lawmakers in Southern Illinois share one fear. Sequestration could cost them their seats. Enyart and Davis are three months into their new jobs — representing next-door districts — and constituents already are blaming them for not doing enough to stop the automatic spending cuts. This week, 4,500 civilian workers at nearby Scott Air Force Base will receive furlough notices — a troubling reminder for Davis, who won his seat last fall by just 1,002 votes.

-- “Enyart’s no better off: He pledged to protect Scott during his 2012 campaign, but at last weekend’s St. Patrick’s Day parade in his hometown of Belleville, several people shouted, ‘Stop the sequester!’ as he walked by tossing green beads to children. ‘Certainly, in my district, we’re in crisis stage,’ Enyart told POLITICO after marching in the parade. This tale of two districts is a reminder for some in Washington who still think about sequester as an abstract political fight. On the ground, the cuts are real — and so are the political consequences.” http://politi.co/ZG73w6

--POLITICO’s Steven Sloan and Rachel Bade write that the sequester has local leaders across the country eyeing tax increases to make up for lost revenue and services: http://politi.co/ZG7c2w

TURNOUT KEY TO S.C. PRIMARY – Gina Smith reports for The State in Columbia, S.C.: “In special elections like today’s 1st Congressional District primaries, turnout is almost certain to be light – about 30,000 voters, campaign officials speculate. With former Gov. Mark Sanford well in front of the GOP pack, according to most polls, the Republican able to join him in an expected runoff will have to turn out supporters at the polls en mass, according to advisers for the various campaigns. ‘There are some high schools in Texas where you have to get more votes to be student government president than what it will take to come in second place in this race,’ said Walt Whetsell, campaign adviser to GOP candidate John Kuhn, an attorney and former state senator. … Sanford is expected to take about a third of the Republican vote and slide into a first-place finish. But he is not expected to take a majority, making an April 2 runoff against today’s second-place finisher likely.

-- “Last-minute campaign rumblings and internal polls indicate Curtis Bostic, a former Charleston County Council member, is making a big push to be that candidate. Bostic has put about $100,000 of his own money into the race, far less than some of the other challengers, and has run fewer TV spots. However, the Charleston attorney is picking up steam among evangelical church congregations and parents who home school their children.” http://bit.ly/ZqAFhJ

FIRST LOOK: DEMS RAZZ RYAN OVER HEALTH CARE GAFFE -- House Democrat are poking fun at Budget Chairman Paul Ryan for saying at a news conference last week that Republicans are “not going to give up on destroying the health care system for the American people.” As they rally against the Ryan budget today, Democratic leaders will show a video of Ryan’s gaffe at a caucus meeting this morning. “We’ll give Chairman Ryan the benefit of the doubt that he misspoke,” Dems will say in a press release later today. “Nonetheless, House Democrats will continue fighting for a balanced plan that protects Medicare, creates jobs, grows the economy, strengthens the middle class and responsibly reduces the deficit.” Watch the video here:http://youtu.be/12FziVdvKAE

-- Meanwhile, Georgia Senate hopeful, GOP Rep. Paul Broun, argues in a NYT op-ed that the Ryan budget doesn’t cut deep enough. “It fails to seriously address runaway government spending, the most pressing problem facing our nation. I cannot vote for something that would trick the American people into thinking that Congress is fixing Washington’s spending problem, when in actuality we’d just be allowing it to continue without end. … My party’s de facto position has become ‘we’re increasing spending, but not as much as the other guy.’ That’s not good enough.” http://nyti.ms/XmTXCc

STANFORD PROFS.: RYAN BUDGET WOULD BOOST ECONOMY – Professors John F. Cogan and John B. Taylor praise the House budget in the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal: “According to our research, the spending restraint and balanced-budget parts of the House Budget Committee plan would boost the economy immediately. With the Budget Committee's proposed tax reform included, the immediate impact would be even larger. The entire plan would raise gross domestic product by one percentage point in 2014, equivalent to about a $1,500 increase for each U.S. household. Ten years from now, at the end of the official budget horizon, we estimate that the entire plan would raise GDP by three percentage points, or more than $4,000 for each U.S. household.” http://on.wsj.com/145eVfW

-- Ryan will present his budget to Senate Republicans at lunch today, the Hill reports: http://bit.ly/WT6Ngr

NEW WaPo/ABC NEWS POLL: 58 percent of Americans now back same-sex marriage, up from 36 percent in 2006. http://wapo.st/ZaTYZb

SALON ASKS: HAVE REPUBLICANS READ THEIR NEW REBRANDING REPORT? – Alex Seitz-Wald writes for the online magazine: “How serious are Republicans about their effort to reach out to minorities, one of the core doctrines of their big new Growth and Opportunity Project report they released this morning? … The report says ‘we have to engage’ minority voters “and show our sincerity.” A first test of that strategy approached them almost instantly, with President Obama’s nomination today of Tom Perez to serve as labor secretary. And so far, they don’t seem to be implementing it very deftly. Perez, who is currently the head of the Department of Justice’ Civil Rights Division, has had his name dragged through the mud over factually inaccurate, race-baiting charges of impropriety. Some conservatives claim that Perez, a Latino working under the first black president and first black attorney general in history, dismissed a case against a handful of New Black Panther activists in some kind gesture of racial solidarity. …

-- “The New Black Panthers controversy was always absurd and conspiratorial, but now it’s also almost three years old. Nonetheless, when Obama officially nominated Perez Monday morning, some just couldn’t help themselves in dredging it up again. Just hours after the nomination, Sen. David Vitter said he will filibuster Perez over the allegations. ‘Thomas Perez’s record should be met with great suspicion by my colleagues for his spotty work related to the New Black Panther case,’ Vitter said in a statement declaring that he will ‘block’ the nominee.” http://bit.ly/149bghw

-- Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele urged the Senate to confirm Perez, whom he called a “good family man.” BuzzFeed: http://bit.ly/ZqCzPs

RAND PAUL TO ENDORSE A PATH TO CITIZENSHIP – The Associated Press: “Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is endorsing a pathway to citizenship for the nation's 11 million illegal immigrants, a significant move for a favorite of tea party Republicans who are sometimes hostile to such an approach. In a speech to be delivered Tuesday morning to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the potential 2016 presidential candidate declares, ‘If you wish to live and work in America, then we will find a place for you.’ … Paul's path to citizenship would come with conditions that could make it long and difficult for illegal immigrants. Chief among these, Congress would have to agree first that progress was being made on border security. Nonetheless, Paul's endorsement of allowing illegal immigrants an eventual way to become citizens puts him in line with a growing number of Republicans who are embracing action on immigration as a way to broaden the GOP's appeal to Latinos.” http://lat.ms/XmVb0d

GOOD TUESDAY MORNING, MARCH 19, 2013, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of the day’s congressional news. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to swong@politico.com. If you don't already, please follow me on Twitter @scottwongDC.

My new followers include @KlineNeil and @evanbrown20.

TODAY IN CONGRESS – The Senate is in at 10 a.m. and continues consideration of the six-month stopgap bill to fund the government. The Senate will recess from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. for the weekly caucus luncheons. The House meets at 10 a.m. for morning business and noon for legislative business.

ON AND OFF THE HILL – Sen. Rand Paul delivers an immigration policy speech at 8 a.m. at The Capital Hilton, 1001 16th St. NW. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Task Force on Immigration, speaks at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast at 9 a.m. at the St. Regis Hotel.

Boehner hosts President Barack Obama and Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Enda Kenny of Ireland at the annual Friends of Ireland luncheon in Statuary Hall. A photo opp is planned for 1:15 p.m. in the Rayburn Room. Sen. Barbara Boxer joins labor and civil rights leader Dolores Huerta, immigrant women and women’s rights advocates to urge support for comprehensive immigration reform that addresses the needs of women and their families, 11 a.m. in Dirksen 628.

The General Aviation Caucus hosts a discussion with Rep. Sam Graves and actor and pilot Harrison Ford at 2 p.m. in Longworth 1100. Hoyer and Rep. Barbara Lee speak on the impact of budgets on poverty at 2:15 p.m. in HVC Studio A. Reps. Donna Edwards, Doris Matsui and Debbie Wasserman Schultz speak on the GOP Budget at 3 p.m. in HVC 215. The Center for American Progress Action Fund hosts a forum “Federal and State Initiatives to Prevent Gun Violence” featuring Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy and Rep. Mike Thompson, at 2:30 p.m. at CAP, 1333 H St. NW. RSVP here: http://bit.ly/1497zZg

From noon to 2 p.m. Wednesday, the Caring Economy Campaign of the Center for Partnership Studies host a Congressional Briefing on "The Economic Return from Investing in Care Work and Early Childhood Education," in Rayburn B340. RSVP to RSVPCPS@gmail.com.

THE ROGERS REPORT: SENATE CR ADVANCES – “A stopgap bill to avert a government shutdown next week and keep agencies operating through September advanced in the Senate Monday night — powered by a renewed bipartisan partnership in the Appropriations Committee leadership,” writes David Rogers. “On a 63-35 roll call, 10 Republicans joined Democrats to limit further debate on the 587-page package, which seeks to greatly expand on the House-passed version of the same continuing resolution or CR. The strength of the vote all but assures passage, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said it was his ‘sincere hope’ that this will occur Tuesday. All indications are once the Senate acts, the House Appropriations Committee leadership is prepared to take the modified Senate CR directly to the House floor, possibly as early as Thursday. ‘We’ve come very far on this bill,’ said Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) in a final appeal to her colleagues. ‘We have to decide: Do we want to make the perfect the enemy of the good?’” http://politi.co/109KVMM

POLICE: DOMINICAN WOMEN PAID TO LIE ABOUT MENENDEZ -- Luz Lazo and Carol D. Leonnig write on A3 of the Washington Post: “Three Dominican women were paid to lie about having sex for money with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and a close friend, Dominican police said Monday, citing statements from the women and other evidence. At a news conference in the Dominican Republic, National Police spokesman Maximo Baez Aybar said authorities had determined that the women were paid hundreds of dollars by a local lawyer to make the false claims in videotaped interviews. The women said the lawyer coached them on what to say in their recorded statements, taped in a Dominican shopping mall in La Romana province. …

-- “Allegations that Menendez patronized prostitutes in the Dominican Republic began circulating last year while he was running for reelection and resurfaced in recent weeks, after he became chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The videotaped claims of two women, made with their faces obscured, were posted last fall on the conservative Web site the Daily Caller. … According to Dominican police, the taping was arranged by lawyer Melanio Figueroa, who was accompanied by a man who appeared not to be Dominican, and began in a hotel but moved to a shopping mall to get a better wireless connection. …

-- “On Monday afternoon, the Daily Caller posted an article saying, ‘TheDC has not independently verified the identities of the women involved in the Dominican National Police investigation, but will continue to investigate the case.’ The article said ‘it remains unclear’ whether the woman who gave her name as de los Santos was one of the women who appeared in the Web site’s interview.” http://wapo.st/ZPJkYS

ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN LOSES STEAM – John Bresnahan and Manu Raju report for POLITICO: “After a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Monday, a frustrated [Sen. Dianne] Feinstein said she learned that the bill she sponsored — which bans 157 different models of assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines — wouldn’t be part of a Democratic gun bill to be offered on the Senate floor. Instead, it can be offered as an amendment. But its exclusion from the package makes what was already an uphill battle an almost certain defeat. The ban is supported by more than a dozen Senate Democrats and the White House, as well as gun-control groups. …

-- “Reid’s decision highlights the tightrope walked by the majority leader in governing the gun control issue. Trapped between the White House and rank-and-file Democrats who support broad gun control legislation following the shootings last December in Newtown, Conn., Reid must also be mindful of red-state Democrats up for reelection in 2014 who favor gun rights. And the decision to drop the assault weapons ban from the package illustrates the fact that any big changes to gun control legislation will still be challenging. Aside from the ban, three other major pieces of gun legislation have been approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee: a gun trafficking bill, a Democrats-only background checks measure and a proposal to increase school safety.” http://politi.co/109T83i

BACHMANN SEEKS REDEMPTION AT HOME – Kyle Trygstad reports for Roll Call: “Once one of the tea party’s loudest voices on Capitol Hill, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann now shuns the national spotlight for Saturday morning coffees in St. Cloud. These are the political consequences when a former presidential candidate wins re-election by a single point. Fourteen months after dropping out of the White House race, Bachmann is attempting to recast her national profile into a local one. After a humbling year, the former state senator appears to be fortifying the roots that helped launch her quick ascent into the national consciousness and ultimately made her a contender for the GOP’s presidential nomination.” http://bit.ly/XYXDzX

MONDAY’S TRIVIA – Tom Flanagin was first to correctly answer that the late Sen. Charles Percy (R-Ill.), a Georgetown resident, was instrumental in the creation of the Georgetown Waterfront Park.

TODAY’S TRIVIA – Flanagin has today’s question: A Showtime documentary on Friday mentioned that at 34, Dick Cheney was the youngest man to be appointed White House chief of staff. Who was the oldest to be appointed? First to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day’s Huddle. Email me at swong@politico.com.

GET HUDDLE emailed to your Blackberry, iPhone or other mobile device each morning. Just enter your email address where it says “Sign Up.” http://www.politico.com/huddle/